This is a very enjoyable Ted talk by Clay Shirky which he delivered in 2005 (!). He speaks about how collaborative tools are changing the way human affairs are conducted. His main argument is that new technologies drive down coordination costs and replace institutional planning with looser types of coordination. He uses examples of Flickr, Meetup and online support groups. His talk also helps to understand the rationale behind the open-source movement. The way Clay talks about ‘tagging’ and content being produced or categorized by end-users immediately made me think of the mechanisms of emergence which I came across in Andrew McAfee‘s works before.
via ted.com